a dog and a doctor

I've joked for a while that far too many times when I've taken Lucas to the zoo, I've found something that someone else lost on the way there. Once it was someone's cellphone, which I spent a fair amount of time asking nearby people and houses about before taking it home and eventually getting hold of the owner because her boyfriend kept trying to Facetime and call her. Another time a woman asked me if the little stray dog she'd just caught, who'd been running around trailing his leash, was my dog, and she and I spent some time checking the dog for tags and whatnot before she took it off to bring to her vet to see if it was microchipped. She had a dog of her own and didn't have a toddler, so she took the lead on that one.

Today, The Boy and Lucas and I were going to the zoo and before we got more than a block away from our house... we saw a white and black dog trotting down the sidewalk toward us, with nary a person in sight.

"I hope he's not alone..." said The Boy.

"Uhhh... I don't see anyone," I said.

He was alone.

I stepped ahead while The Boy turned L's stroller aside, and then we both called him, and he trotted right up to us and stopped, crouching and wagging his tail, so I got hold of his collar and checked his tags. His collar read "Adopt me" and his tags had the name of a local rescue org and two phone numbers. The Boy called the first and left a voicemail and then, as directed in the message, also texted it, while I petted the dog. The manager of the rescue called us back almost immediately and said she'd get in touch with his foster family and have them call us. Then, because what else could we do, we went back home and got him into our (happily highly fenced) yard and gave him a bowl of water. L, who had by now been freed from his stroller, was happily announcing "Dog-dog! Dog-dog! Woof! Woof!" to all and sundry, and despite my efforts to keep myself between him and the dog (who seemed completely friendly, but you never know if a strange dog might react poorly to a toddler with not-very-great-yet dog manners), the dog licked his face and hands repeatedly.

Now let me say first that both The Boy and I grew up with dogs, and both of us grew up in houses where our pets often showed up in ways that were... not dissimilar to this. My cats growing up included a kitten who was born in my grandparents' woodpile, and another who was found in my grandpa's car engine. One of my dogs was abandoned by our dirtbag neighbors when they moved. However, The Boy and I have spent the last year or so saying firmly to each other and anyone else who will listen, "After Theoden is gone, no more pets until L is five or six years old and willing and able to take on at least some of the responsibility."

And then this damned dog we've just met licks L's face, leans his side against my leg, and sits on my foot, and I start thinking "...Well, I mean, he needs a home, doesn't he? And he's clearly a sweetheart and good with L. He's bigger than we meant to get, living in a townhouse, but he handled the stairs just fine while we were trying to get him through the hall into the yard, and he's awfully cute, and we could always just keep the baby gate on the upstairs and not let Theoden downstairs..."

After not too long at all the foster family of the dog (whose name turned out to be Mason) called The Boy and he took the dog out to meet them, and I used the water from the bowl to water our tomatoes (the dog had only taken a few half-hearted gulps when I put it down, so I assume he hadn't been loose very long), and got L back inside, and then The Boy got back and we went to the zoo as planned. The foster family, of course, made sure to let him know during the tradeoff that he's available for adoption. And on the way, we talked about it. It doesn't really make sense for us right now, but we talked about it as if it did for a while, because, really, both of us basically always had dogs, growing up, and... well, what else do you do when a perfectly nice seeming dog drops into your lap? But it would be a hell of a thing to put Theoden through in what are undoubtedly his last years, and it would complicate a lot of things, and our yard is quite small, and... it doesn't really make sense. But I admit I'm still a bit sad about it. He was a good boy, and for a moment it felt like the most natural thing in the world in that way that is slightly unhinged and totally against what you'd ever intended. I don't know.

Anyway, the other bit of this post is a spoiler for Loki: The Series. ( Spoilers for the most recent episode, specifically. )

So anyway. I just had to share that.